"Emperor Norton Bridge" Crosses First Hurdle

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution by a vote of 8-2 to recommend to the California Department of Transportation and the state legislature that the San Francisco Bay Bridge be renamed in honor of Joshua Norton, a.k.a. Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

The move to rename the bridge has been promoted by cartoonist Phil Frank (who draws the local strip "Farley") and taken up by a committee of prominent San Francisco citizens.

"The resolution, if approved by Mayor Gavin Newsom," writes Chronicle staff writer Suzanne Herel, "next will travel to the Oakland City Council and on to the California Legislature."

Herel fudges the detail of precisely what is being renamed. According to the Web page of the SF Board of Supervisors, it is the "new additions to the San Francisco Bay Bridge," i.e. the controversial replacement of the eastern span that is currently under construction.

Norton I decreed in 1872 that the Bay Bridge be built, and the job was finally completed in 1936.